


An in-absentia birthday party

by Beleriandings



Category: Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood & Manga
Genre: During the timeskip, Gen, they're celebrating Ed's birthday without him
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-18
Updated: 2016-06-18
Packaged: 2018-07-15 21:04:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 970
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7238431
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Beleriandings/pseuds/Beleriandings
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Nothing’s wrong. What makes you think something’s wrong?”</p><p>“I do know what day it is too, you know.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	An in-absentia birthday party

“Hey, Winry, what’s wrong?”

She must not have heard him come up behind her amid the clattering and shouts of the townspeople at work on the scaffolding, Al thought, for she jumped a little as she turned around at the sound of his voice. “Oh! Al, it’s you…” she folded her arms across her chest, with a sigh. “Nothing’s wrong. What makes you think something’s wrong?”

He folded his arms back at her, in his turn. “I do know what day it is too, you know.”

She sighed, giving a little, rueful shake of her head. “Trust you to remember.”

“I always remember brother’s birthday” said Al brightly. “Even when he forgets, which he did the year we lived with the Teacher, in Dublith. He forgot two years ago too, but that was because we were on a mission to catch a dangerous criminal…” he smiled at the memory, even though at the time there had been nothing to smile about. “Major Armstrong had flowers and cake sent to the hospital for him.”

Winry laughed for a moment, but her face quickly fell, Al saw, though her eyes were dry, true to her word. She grabbed his hand, clasping it between her own. “Oh Al! I just hope Ed’s not… I hope he’s okay, wherever he is!”

“He’s okay” said Al, with more certainty than he felt. He held Winry’s hands in his own, trying to impart what reassurance he could, as little as he had to go on. But he _had_ to believe that Ed was still alive somewhere; he just had to. “I know he is.”

She looked up at him and smiled suddenly. “You know, you’re right. What would he think, seeing the two of us moping around here over him?”

Al laughed. “Yeah. He’d call us a pair of saps.” He looked around the main square of Liore, where the rebuilding work was still in progress around them. “But you know what? We should do something for his birthday, even though he’s not here.”

“Oh? Like what?”

“We should… have a birthday party! An _in-absentia_ birthday party.”

“ _In-absentia_? What, is that an alchemy thing?”

“No” he said. “It means that he’s not here, but we still do something in his honour. I learned it from the military.”

“Right” she said, uncertainly. “So it’s a military party?”

“No! No, just a regular party. A fun birthday party.”

Winry raised an eyebrow, clearly sceptical. 

“Come on!” Al took her hand and tagged her in the direction of the food stand. “Let’s see what Rose can spare for party food.”

“You can’t eat, Al.”

“No, but you can. Maybe we can borrow that radio so we can have music! We can invite Rose, and Zampano and Jerso, and the other guys working in the square. We can invite Dad! It’ll be fun, you’ll see!”

“…..Okay.”

Winry still seemed doubtful, but, Al was pleased to see, she came along with him, her face breaking into a tentative smile. 

Half an hour later, they found themselves seated at a little trestle table in the middle of the square. It was… rather crowded, to say the least; as well as Winry and Al, Rose was there - bringing a tray of freshly baked current buns with her, sandwiches wrapped in paper, and a very large pot of fresh, strong black coffee - as well as Zampano and Jerso, and more of the workmen than Al even recognised, let alone knew by name. But they all seemed to have brought something to contribute; one man had brought a batch of corn cakes, another some apples that Al knew must have come from the market in the next town, stored over the hard winter before. Another brought a bottle of gin, and though Rose gave him a slightly disapproving look - it was still only midday after all - the sun was too warm and the air of holiday about the table too strong for her to really mind too much. 

“It feels odd having all this food when there’s been a shortage here” said Winry doubtfully, taking a small bite of a current bun. 

“It’s okay, Liore’s managing better now” said Rose. “And we’re celebrating Ed’s birthday, aren’t we? Even if he’s not here?” She smiled. “Besides, I already invited everyone else too. I hope you don’t mind!”

She was right, Al saw. The whole town seemed to be out, not only the workers but also small children, trailed by their mothers and grandmothers. 

To his delight, there were also stray cats that had come to investigate, he saw. That was one of the things Al liked about Liore, troubled though the town was, and however bad the circumstances had been in which they had arrived there. There were many cats in the old stony streets, slipping about street corners and winding themselves around his legs. He couldn’t feel their fur, of course, but he liked them anyway. 

“Looks like we’ve got some more party guests” said Al in delight, as a cat jumped up onto his shoulder. He picked a piece of ham from Winry’s sandwich and fed it to the cat. 

“Alphonse!” said Winry, but she was already laughing. “What bad behaviour. Imagine what Ed would say if he could see you doing that!”

“He’d throw a fit” said Al, nonchalantly. “But he’s not here, is he? It’s an _in-absentia_ party, after all!”

“He’s missing out” said a voice, before hesitating for a moment. “It looks like a lovely party.”

Al looked up. “Dad! You made it!”

Hohenheim nodded, tugging off the scarf that bound up his hair, a little awkwardly. “I’m sorry I’m late. Could I join you, too?”

“Do you even need to ask?”

“….Yes I do, actually.” 

“Of course you can come.” Al gestured across the table. “We saved you a seat.”


End file.
